


Frank Sinatra

by CreamyCheesyGood



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy is gross, Cleaning Billy's room, Dental Dams, Everyone is angry, Fix-It, Gen, Grief/Mourning, How Do I Tag, I'm baby, Kidnapping, Like excessively, Lingerie, Porn Magazines, Possession, Sex Toys, Steve goes on a mission, Tags May Change, The Upside Down, always have safe sex, and sad, are you having fun yet, baby's first fic, because stranger things has an excessive amount of cursing, billy is an angry person, but mostly pissed, cursing, especially the parts with billy, for now, there isnt sex though, very sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-06-25 11:31:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19744858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreamyCheesyGood/pseuds/CreamyCheesyGood
Summary: SPOILERS. SPOILERS EVERYWHERE.Billy and Hopper wake up in the upside down.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time so yeehaw let's get this over with. This is how I think shit should contunue But I know it won't the way I want it so here.  
> THERE WILL BE MORE CHAPTERS

Stale air tasting of spores and death suddenly filled his lungs and his eyes snapped open. Billy didn't think as he scrambled to his feet, eyes darting back and forth as his heart pounded in his chest and adrenaline warmed his blood. He looked around, bracing himself to fight the fucking thing he had been trying to kill. That had...killed. Him.

"What the fuck, " Billy found himself whispering as he looked down at himself. He expected blood, that black shit, a hole in his side from where he had been stabbed. There was...nothing? His veins weren't black, his skin wasn't stained in blood, there was no evidence of his battle. Just normal, golden skin, cast in shadows which painted most of his surroundings. He looked around again, this time much more carefully than merely scanning for creatures.

He was still in the mall, though it looked...warped. Dust and ash floated through the air lazily while lights flickered, illuminating shops that looked like they hadn't been touched in decades, though no heavy chain gate closed them off. He was in a similar place he had been when he met his doppelganger. He was where that thing which possessed him had brought him, which meant he was exactly where they wanted him. He decided very quickly he should do the exact opposite of whatever that bloodthirsty fucker wanted.

He crept silently through the mall, pausing for a moment in front of the JCPenney. _Breathing in this shit can't be good news,_ he thought to himself as he strolled in, eyes peeled for any movement. He walked out about three minutes later with a scarf covering half his face and a pair of sunglasses covering the other half. He looked as douche-y as ever. 

It was the sort of robbery he had done to the clothing store that spurred him on to loot more of the stores, and soon kiosks. An hour had passed and he was carrying a duffel bag of random shit ranging from clothes to weapons to lingerie he grabbed. Y'know. Just in case. He also decided to grab several watches. If he knew one thing after his possession, it was that the things hated light, which meant he needed to be in it at all times.

Billy believed himself to be prepared as he stepped out into the nightmare hellscape, gripping a mop handle with one hand and the straps of a duffel bag with the other. And so he stepped into the dark and left the mall, eyes constantly scanning and ears on high alert as his heart pounded in a hurried, familiar, almost comforting beat he knew all too well.


	2. Tears For Fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Max go through Billy's things.

Steve tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in the silence. Max had stopped crying now, but her face was still a vibrant red and snot still dripped from her nose.They were parked at her house. Just. Sitting there. It had been three days since the mall, and Neil was already talking about throwing away Hargove's stuff. Max was pissed, of course, and she asked Steve to help her clean out his stuff before Neil got to it.

Steve was...not thrilled.

He knew Billy was obscene and so he had a feeling he would be finding some pretty gross items within his lair. Nonetheless, he decided to help. He felt like it was the least he could do, and it was for Max, so he was legally obliged to help her after she flashed the glare at him. 

They were driving and listening to the radio when the Scorpions came on, and Max burst into tears. He pulled over almost immediately and turned the radio off, turning towards her as he attempted to console her.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? Tell me what's wrong."

She shook her head a few times and curled in on herself as she sobbed. Steve wasn't great with comfort. He didn't exactly know how. Most of the time his way of comforting his kids was waving a bat in the face of whatever tried to eat them. He didn't have his bat now, and there weren't any people to run over. He settled for reaching over and pulling her to his chest as she bawled.

Steve whispered softly in her hair as he stroked her back, "It's okay, don't worry, alright? We can do this another time. Do you want to do this later? I can go through his stuff myself if you want, alright? Whatever you need. This is for you, okay?"

They stayed there for some time, and eventually Max pulled away, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. Her lip was still quivering as she spoke, "i want to do it now. I need to." She paused for a moment to take a few shaky breaths. She looked at him and laughed under her breathe, smirking awkwardly against her muscles' wishes to pout as she murmured, "Your shirt is gross now."

Steve frowned down at the snotty wet spot on his (new, very new dammit) shirt. "You're awful," Steve said, smirking back up at Max. She looked out the window and straightened her self out a bit. 

"We can go now."

Steve nodded and started the car. Soon, they were in the driveway, both to afraid to open the doors. 

When they went inside, would it be final? When they threw away the first porn mag, would it really hit them that this guy was gone, forever? That Max would go back to not having an asshole brother who sometimes protected her for all the wrong reasons? 

They would deal with the fact that Hawkins no longer had a lifeguard for all the creepy ass moms to prey after. They would come to face the fact that this kid died before he could see his asshole father lowered in the grave. That the guy fought to try to save himself but more importantly, he fought to save the world and even though he won, he would never get the chance to show he was truly redeemed, ever again.

And so Steve and Max stayed there, in the silence, watching the house as the sun set over the trees, lumps forming their throats as they considered the finality of each of their actions.

They waited there for twenty minutes before Steve opened the door and dropped a foot into the drive. He pulled himself out and slammed the door shut. Max followed suit and they marched toward the door, hearts in their throats and tears in their eyes. 

Max opened the door and led Steve to Billy Hargrove's room and...if Steve were less sensitive, he would've scoffed at the amount of naked women there were. There was being a horny teenager, and then there was compensating. 

* * *

Max was busy taking posters off the walls while Steve cleaned...basically everything else. He knew he would rather a guy friend clean under his bed than his parents, and he didn't own half the graphic stuff Hargrove did. So he was doing Billy and Max a favor, and giving himself a heart attack everytime he reached for a sock, despite wearing cleaning gloves. Max had left to grab another trash bag and throw the full one out when Steve was reaching beneath the bed. He grabbed a box and pulled it out. It was a shoe box. Steve knew what his shoe boxes contained and maybe it was breaking Billy's privacy, but the guy was dead now, anyway. So. He opened it. And then he closed it. And then he slowly opened it again to see if what he saw was real.

Steve had been right about compensating. Inside the box was gay porn. And, like, a lot? Steve stared at the guy on the cover of the magazine in confusion. Where the hell does one buy gay porn in the 1980s? Not that he wanted to know. It was just curiosity. Could he ask Robin about this? He heard Max's footsteps clapping on the floor and he quickly slammed the box back closed as she appeared back in. She looked a little better, not quite as red. She no longer looked like she had been crying her eyes out a little over an hour ago. 

"What's that?"

"Porn."

"Ew. Why does he have so much? Do all boys own this much? This doesn't seem healthy."

"It definitely isn't."

Max opened the trash bag and gave him an expectant look.

"Actually. I think I'm going to use a separate bag for the porn so that we can burn all of it."

Max squinted. "Why? Viking porn burial?"

Steve laughed and shrugged, "It's the honor he would have wanted."

Max's smile fell away and she sank to the floor. Steve scooted next to her.

"What's wrong?"

"How do we know what he would have wanted? He's gone. He's gone and he'll never be back and he can't tell us what he wanted because he was never supposed to go so soon...No one should go so soon!"

Steve thought about Barbara. How her parents never stopped looking, how they never knew what happened that night. That Nancy wanted to do something, needed to do something to make it right.

"We can't know what he wanted. We can't get him back. You're right. No one deserves this shit, Hawkins doesn't deserve this shit, but we can't stop it. We do what we can to prevent more lives being lost but we can't change anything else."

Max sniffled and shook her head, standing up and she marched to the walls. "We can do something. We _need_ to do something." She began snatchingposters off the wall. Instead of crumbling and throwing the away, she rolled them up and stuck them in the bag she would keep. "We're going to give those assholes exactly what they deserve and then they're going to bring everyone we lost back."

Steve blinked and he raised an eyebrow. "Right...and how the hell are we supposed to do that? Max, they're rich! Powerful! They have Russians!"

"They tore a hole through space, through another _dimension,_ Steve! They can tear a hole through time."

"Right. Okay. Assuming that either of us know what we're talking about, how the hell do we make them do that?"

"We have El."

"And I have lactose intolerance. Ice cream doesn't stop me, so how would El stop the government?"

"She's a mage. She can do anything."

"I don't think that's true but I don't know enough about the extent of her powers to disagree with you."


	3. Hotel California

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention the chapter names are song/band titles? Yeah so you got Frank Sinatra (you'll understand later I promise) and Tears for Fears. This one is Hotel California by The Eagles which if you don't know you should look it up right now you uncultured swine.

Billy found breathing with a massive scarf over his mouth difficult, to say the least. It was freezing outside but his head felt trapped in a sauna. If he were less disciplined, he might've even taken the scarf off to allow the cold air to nip at his face for a bit. The sweat sliding down his back as he ran stealthily through the deserted streets was like a drop of ice, and he was not very thankful for it. it was distracting. He couldn't afford distractions. Not when the chitter of...things...lurked in the darkness. Not when the leaves scraped against the pavement and Billy couldn't be sure if it was wind or monsters. Not when he could feel the eyes of something on his back ever since he left the mall, watching and waiting for one fault. 

Billy tightened his grip on the mop handle as he hurried, searching for shelter. He was too wary of any broken windows, too suspicious of multi leveled sanctuaries. He knew what would happen if he made one mistake under Neil's roof; he had a sneaking suspicion he would not survive a mistake out here. So, he kept trekking in the darkness, lost and maybe a little bit scared, though he would never tell anyone that.

As he was dwelling on these thoughts, he found his gaze sticking to a small building surrounded by an empty parking lot. He approached it carefully and began an inspection.

He was quick about his examination, not wanting to stay in one spot for too long, and he realized quickly this place was perfect. Billy had walked around the small squat store three times to make sure no windows were broken, no doors hung open, and no holes littered the wall. He found it was a fortress. The windows were reinforced with wood and metal tin scraps, pieces of barbed wire stabbed out from the ground, and most importantly, the doors were barricaded. 

Which was cool. Except for the fact that Billy needed in. He gave another look around, hyper aware of his surroundings, of the eerie silence around this place. He still felt something was watching him, and he didn't really want to dismiss it as some sort of side effect of being here.

Billy tried the door knob, to no avail. It was unlocked, weirdly enough, but there was something behind it blocking the way in. He shoved against it. Nothing.

"Fucking fuck _fuck,"_ Billy hissed eloquently beneath his breath. Goosebumps crept across his skin as he felt that watchful eye on his back grow in attention. He turned around and slammed his back on the door with a grunt. This was doing nothing. There was nothing out here but those goddamn _creatures_ and people who looked like them and he was fucking stuck knowing that he would die out here, all alone, never to be remembered, and no one would fucking _care_ about his absence. 

He slammed his fist on the door as he slid to the ground, dropping the bag and mop. He pressed his head into his hands and exhaling shakily, trying to get a hold of himself. He would find a way free. He would find a way home. They were waiting for him, praying he would be safe. Max would try to hug him when he got home, and he may even let her. He would find Harrington and after laughing in his face about his skimpy sailor outfit, he would beat the shit out of him for running Billy over. He would find Karen and tell her once more to fuck off. He would move back to California, away from this hellhole, and he would find someone who made him feel like he was in a goddamn romcom. Billy laughed to himself about that. Jesus. Even if he escaped, would his life ever be the same? Probably the fuck not. He couldn't leave, he would never feel safe unless he knew what was happening at all times.

He was lost. Hopelessly lost. Billy leaned back and looked to the sky. It was dark behind his sunglasses, and the clouds glowing with red lightning were hiding the moon and stars that were the only reason Billy didn't throw himself into the river the first month arrived at Hawkins. He sighed and pulled himself together.

And then something was dragging, scraping across the floor in the room behind him, and Billy found himself leaping to his feet, pathetic weapon in hand as he got ready to swing. He never got the chance, though, because a blunt object suddenly and effectively slammed against the back of his head, and he dropped to the ground like an exceptionally heavy bag of green onions.

* * *

"Holy shit we caught one-"

"Shut the hell up, dumbass!"

"But we finally have an upper hand-"

"We don't have shit if you keep talking. Hey. Is it waking up? It's hand is moving."

Billy groaned as he rolled his wrists. They were tied by something. He was sitting in a chair, and he couldn't see shit. He tried moving his legs, but found they were also tied down.

"What the hell is going on," he growled, eyebrows furrowing as a massive pain slowly made itself known at the back of his head.

"You got caught by the fuckin Resi-"

"Shut up, shit head!" The voice was...familiar. Footsteps approached from the left, and the voice was by his head now. "We're asking the questions, here. Alright? Where is the next gate opening?"

Billy strained against his restraints. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, fucking let me go! I'll kick your ass!"

"Hey S- uh, Sergeant? No? Savior? You know what, we really need codenames. Whatever. He doesn't sound like the uh, possessed. Maybe we should let him go-"

"Absolutely not, dumbass. I have _seen_ this guy. He was like, the first recruiter. He's acting, obviously."

"Wait, recruiting? No, no, I was possessed. _Was._ By me. The me here! But I'm not, not anymore, I'm me for real now! Let me go, dipshits!"

"No, you're right, he's a bad liar."

"And this is why you listen to me, young padawan. I'm the expert on taking these things down."

And Billy suddenly recognized that voice. It was that fucking guy from the arcade Max was always at, what was this asshole's name again? 

"Keith! Mother fucker, I know you! Let me go, dickwad, I'll break your damn fingers so you can't stuff anymore chips in your mouth you piece of shit-"


	4. Fried Noodles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve asks Robin a Very Important Question. He learns things about Hargrove he never knew. But it's too late, now. Right?

Steve passed the blunt to Robin as he tried, and failed, to blow rings in his smoke. She scoffed at his lame attempt and took another hit before sitting up.

"Alright, dingus, why did you want me over? Not just to waste your weed right?" She grinned and passed it back to him. It was almost to heir fingertips, but they weren't tossing the roach. 

"I, uh. I wanted to ask you a question. It's about a friend of mine." Steve lurched up and placed the roach on the floor beside him, abandoning it to crawl over to his bed. He flopped onto his back and slapped his arm under his bed, searching. 

"Uh. Are you about to show me your porn? Because I'm good. Really."

"What? No, it's not _my_ porn, weirdo. Shit, where is it- oh, there!" He yanked back, clinging to the bag he had nabbed from the Hargrove's. 

Robin's eyebrows shot up. "So it's not your porn, but it's under your bed?"

Steve pulled open the bag and tossed the shoe box to her. She stared at it. 

"I'm not opening that. I don't know what's on it. I don't want to know."

Steve grumbled and stumbled over to her, dropping like a coffin beside her. "Alright, whatever." He pulled the top off and watched Robin's reaction. It was satisfying, to say the least. Her lips were parted in shock, and her eyes looked like they would pop out of her head. She stared before erupting in laughter, falling to the side. 

"Oh my god! Did you take this from your parents?! This is so gross! Why do you have this? Where did you get it?! Steve, this is disgusting!"

Steve huffed and shoved her, closing the box. "Look, I got it from, well, you know how I went to help Max out? I got this from Hargrove's room. Billy Hargrove. You know, macho man?" He began snickering. "Oh god, I didn't thiNk about what could be on it. Oh god, I touched it with my bare hands just now!" He proceeded to attempt to wipe his palms on Robin's shoulder as she squealed and shoved him away. 

"Gross! Get away!" She held him away by his forearm and kicked him in the chest. He fell back with a groan and she kicked him again, lighter this time.

"Ow." Steve said, holding a hand to his chest. Robin cackled and sat up.

"I would suggest washing, with bleach." 

Steve wheezed and sat up slowly. "Okay. I agree. Except I'm not putting bleach on my body."

"Booooo, lame ass." 

He rose slowly and stumbled to his bathroom. Robin followed and leaned against the door as he washed his hands. "Seriously, though. Those were Billy's? I didn't realize he was gay. I mean. It makes sense, now. Do you think he liked anyone here? Oh god, what if he had a boyfriend?"

Steve flicked the water off and dried his hands on a towel. "Maybe he wasn't gay? Maybe he was experimenting. Or he liked girls and guys? I heard that's a thing. Whatever. He's gone, we should leave it be. But, I wanted to ask you, where can someone buy that kind of stuff?"

Robin raised and eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Why are you asking me? Just cause I like girls I must know where every gay kid buys their porn? Jesus, Steve."

Steve stuttered and shook his head desperately, "What? No, I mean I, I didn't mean it like that? I mean, I don't know where to get it? I mean, not that gay people just automatically know where gay porn is, or whatever, I just thought that you, specifically, might, like, know where a person like Billy Hargrove would purchase his magazines?" Steve cleared his throat and ruffled his hair awkwardly, leaning against the sink after his terrible excuse.

Robin snorted and grinned, letting her arms drop. "Steve. Oh my god, calm down. I was just messing with you. Jeez, you're so easy to fuck with."

Steve turned red and sputtered, "Wait, really? You're not, like, offended?"

"No, dingus. And I do have an idea where he could've gotten it. Why?"

"I was just wondering. I mean, maybe there was more to him than we thought? Maybe he had...other friends?"

Robin scoffed, "Alright. Fine. I'll tell you where, _but_ you have to do something in return."

"What? Really?"

"Yup. I want you to get me some dental dams."

"Some _what?"_

"Dental dams. And not cheap ones, alright? You buy expensive condoms, so I want expensive dams."

Steve squinted. "Okay, but what the hell is a dental dam? And why do you need one?"

"It's for oral sex, dumbass. I'm a lesbian. Are you done asking questions?" 

Steve was not. But Robin was mean, and he didn't want to ask anything else. "Alright, whatever, I'll get them for you. Now where the hell am I supposed to go?"

* * *

Steve pulled into the parking lot, nerves jittery. He had not been in a sex shop before, let alone one...like this. He bought his condoms at obscure gas stations, and it was a small town, so he wasn't exactly hoping to walk around with everyone knowing he stopped at sex stores frequently. He wasn't a sex fiend, alright? Jesus, Steve didn't even care about his reputation anymore, yet he was shaking. 

_Okay_ , Steve thought, _deep breaths. We're going to go in, buy Robin her stuff, swing by the porn, see if there are any guys who know Billy, wait. That's a shit idea. Okay, revise. Buy Robin her stuff. Drop by the porn section, see if the magazines are there. If they are, cool. Drop by the counter and see if they know Hargrove. If not, buy her stuff and leave, easy peasy._

Steve exhaled and shoved the car door open before he could change his mind. He kept his head down low and hood pulled over his head as he walked in, cheeks flaming. 

"Sir, I'm sorry, you can't hide your face. Company policy."

Steve froze. Shit. "Oh, hah, okay, yeah, I got it," he wheezed, pulling the hood down. He continued walking down the aisles, head still lowered, as he searched for Robin's stuff. He was. Embarrassed, to say the least. Which was ridiculous. He was just buying protection, nothing to be ashamed of.

He exhaled and tilted his head up, only to be met with a ridiculously sized dildo, surrounded by a colorful assortment of toys, some of which looked more like kitchen utensils than anything. He about lost it, as he felt way too much blood rush to his face. His head dropped again and he hurried to the next aisle.

He was met with an array of protection, and he was relieved. He had a change of plans. Just buy Robin's shit and go, if he was brave enough, ask about Billy on the way out. Christ. 

He was slower as he perused this aisle, less mortified as he actually knew what most of it was. 

He wondered how often Billy came to these places. Did he hide his face? Did he threaten the cashier if they even thought about telling about him? Or did Billy steal shit from girls' rooms? Was he even queer? 

Steve stopped about half way through the aisle. There were a few different brands, and Steve shoved his thoughts away from Billy to Robin. What would she want? She wanted somehing expensive, but all of it was over priced. Would she want the clinical blue ones, or the colorful ones? Flavored? Christ, decisions, decisions. He plucked two different kinds, one flavored and one not, before he headed to the counter. He walked to the counter and dropped the items on the counter for the cashier to scan. She was obviously bored and he didn't recognize her. But then, he didn't notice Robin for all the time they were in school together, so. 

"I need your i.d.," she drawled, holding out a finally manicured hand. Steve fumbled as he got it out.

"Right, no problem." He passed it to her and she looked at it for a moment before handing it back to him. "Your total is $18.23." He passed her the money. He stood there awkwardly as she counted out change before he summed up the courage to ask what he came here to.

"Hey, uh, has a Billy Hargrove been here? Curly mullet, super muscle-y? He may have bought some uh, magazines?"

Her eyes narrowed and she looked up. "Why? What do you want to know for?"

He gulped . "No reason. I mean, I know his sister. His little sister. I baby sit her with some other kids, he beat the shit out of me once? I was wondering because I wanted to know more about him. He's, well. No longer with us. And I wanted to know what e was like, for other people?"

She scoffed. "Right, and you just expect me to tell you this why?"

He paused and looked down. Her nails rapped against the counter. Her nails. The index and middle were not acrylic. Steve's eyes widened and he looked back up at her. 

"How old are you? Because if you're interested, I know another lesbian."

She stared at him with dead eyes. "19"

"Yeah. She's about that old."

"Alright. You get me a date with this girl and I'll tell you all I know about Billy J. Hargrove. But you have to get me a date first."

"Alright. Alright, yeah, I can do that."

She handed him the change. "Good. Get out of here, you're ruining my alone time."

He nodded and fled, his steps light as he walked to the car. He tossed the bag of Robin's things in the passenger seat as he climbed in.

"Okay. Objection completed, let's go."


	5. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy

Billy strained against his restraints once again, wondering if it was sweat or blood on his wrists as he writhed. Dumb and dumber were gone, for now. Must've been Billy knowing one of their names that threw them off. Didn't matter, though. He was stuck.

He wondered whether it was good or not he survived. On one hand, he was alive. He could move on. He didn't dream of being redeemed, but maybe he wouldn't be the bad guy for once. Maybe he could be who his mom wanted him to be.

On the other hand, he was stuck in some creepy ass world, freezing off his bones, tied up by some nerds who thoughts he was evil. He left the world behind that he knew. Fuck, maybe this was the world he knew, and nothing good even happened. The other side won. Add that to the cons.

A door creaking open pulled him out of his thoughts. "You assholes back and ready to untie me?" He growled, ready to beat the shit out of someone or something. 

"No," said a voice he hadn't yet heard, "we're going to ask questions." Heels clicked towards him, and suddenly light burned his eyes as the owner of the voice yanked off his blindfold. He blinked and squinted as his vision adjusted.

"Do I know you?" A small, familiar woman stood before him, and he wondered how he knew her. She looked as though she hadn't slept for a week, and her hair looked like she plugged a fork in an electric socket. 

She scoffed. "I thought you might remember me. Being the one who tried to kill my son and all. The one who destroyed the world. And me being the one who chased your ugly ass out of him. The one who killed your hell spawn. The one who will kill you."

Billy blinked and raised his eyebrows. "Right. I didn't do any of those things, maybe you should take it up with the head office? I recently quit my job, and apparently my universe, too, by the looks of it." He grinned with a smile full of teeth, and he distantly wondered why he was such an asshole. 

The crazy ass lady must've wondered that, too, or at least was mildly pissed off, if the bony fist she sent his way was anything to go by.

Billy hissed as she smashed his nose, and he jerked against the ropes binding him as he felt blood gush down his face. 

"Fucking bitch!"

"No black veins, no black blood. Evolving again, are we? And what will it be this time? You look just human enough to blend in? Please. And choosing one of your favorites to pretend? I thought you were supposed to be superior in intellect."

"I'm not that thing! Holy fuck, I'm not it's fucking puppet anymore! Stop trying to talk to it, you fucking moron!" 

The woman slammed a heel into his foot and he shouted in agony as it punched through his skin.

"Fucking hell-" 

"Tell me what you're planning, you shit stain! Where's the next gate?! What happened to all your sleepers?! Where's Hopper?!"

As he was blinded by pain, he was suddenly overwhelmed by memories that were not his own. Her name was Joyce. She had a son, the first he took, taking people from the other world, a gate?, the gate is still open, there's a man, Jim Hopper, Eleven, they have him, the fucking Russians (Russians?) have him, they died, they all fucking died for that _thing_ , Will is getting away, but now Billy knows how to go home, he can go home if he just-

Light returned on full blast and Billy groaned as his head fell forward. His nose was dry, and his shoe felt like cement. 

Joyce was gone. 

"Wha tha fucg?" Billy dragged his eyes across the room. He was in a different place. It was warm. He pulled his hands and winced as he felt the rope drag across and reopen scabs where he had fought before. He felt like everything was moving in slow motion, but way too fast. He felt bruises that weren't there before and he had the worst goddamn headache ever. 

Holy fuck. 

What all did he miss? 

* * *

It had been two eternities. The chair was on its side because Billy thrashed too hard and fucked up too bad, and everything hurt. It had gotten way hotter, and at first Billy was grateful, but now he was sticky with blood and sweat and it was uncomfortable as all hell.

He heard some locks click and latches drag and had the distant thought that it was about to get worse.

I was Jonathan Byers that appeared, though. But he was...not the one Billy had seen. 

The Byers of his world was lanky and looked malnourished at best. Though, to be fair, he heard Byers beat the shit out of Harrington so that was...interesting. Either Harrington was a bad fighter and constantly lost, or Byers had some strength.

Either way, this Byers was different. He looked the same but angrier. A few more visible scars, and somehow uglier haircut. And he wasnt lanky. He wasn't filled out or anything, but he looked less like a tall twig, at least. 

He was holding a bowl of what looked like barely edible cat meat. He closed the door behind him, and Billy heard locks again. He raised an eyebrow at Billy on the floor and approached him cautiously.

"You're not fighting. If you were flayed, you would be throwing a tantrum right now. But you seem tired. That's a plus."

He sat the bowl down and walked over, picking Billy's chair up with a grunt and setting him upright. 

Billy said nothing as his head bobbed.

"I got some food for you, if you're hungry. And I can get some supplies to fix you up. You look like shit."

Billy shot the first glare of what would, he predicted, soon be at least thirty. Jonathan may have looked rougher, but he still seemed to be a pussy. Billy didn't look forward to their interactions. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, readers! I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I'm moving into my dorm, so I've been doing a lot. Thank you for hanging on! Sometimes it will take me a while to update, esp. With school about to start up, so it might take days or even weeks to update.   
> However, if you have any questions or the cliff hanger is too bad, feel free to leave a comment! I respond as soon as possible, which is usually after I see it.  
> Thank you all for reading and leaving kudos or for just enjoying the story in the shadows. I hope that I can continue to grow my writing abilities while entertaining y'all.


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